I'll Be On Vacation

In a few days, I'm going to England and Italy for a couple of weeks, to spend the holidays and travel around with my daughter, A. Beauty.
After she graduated from college, she moved to Italy, and has been working there as an au-pair, since the end of the summer.

She's decided that she's not the nanny-type; she's really the world traveler type. But she has learned so much by doing it. The life changes, of motherhood, won't be a total shock, should she ever decide to become a parent, after 24/7 with twin babies in Macerata. She was really surprised by the "macho absent male + chattel" family dynamic. The wife didn't speak English and A. Beauty had no way to get to town to take an Italian class. There was no way the mother was going to accommodate her anyway. She was too isolated in the country villa to explore the area, which was something she thought she would be able to do on her days off. There were no days off. She said, on a visit, one of the Grandmothers kept yelling "Schwepps" at her. She still hasn't found out what that means other than a soft drink brand. But she said the context for these outbursts made it unlikely that she was asking her if she would like a soda(A. Beauty doesn't drink sodas.)

She terminated her services with the first family and found a great family in Rome, who drove all the way to Macerata to pick her up. They have two young boys, early elementary school aged. Her main function beside keeping an eye on them after school in the afternoons is to teach the children English. The parents speak Italian, Thai, and English; the kids speak Italian and Thai. She's much happier living in Rome and has lots of free time to see the sights and she likes this family. The small private apartment she has attached to their villa is nice too, it even has a kitchen. It's too bad that she got so burnt out with the first family.

Someone in her Italian language class said that if she ever considered marrying an Italian man, her advice was, "NO, RUN!" A. Beauty is very independent and I guess that would be a problem for many of the men she has observed there.

I can't wait to see her. She has planned out our travel to various cities, hotels, etc. I'm going to spend a couple of days in London, so I can get over my notoriously crabby jet-lag, before I join her in Rome. I have a few museums I want to see while I'm in London. She will be returning to the U.S. with me just before New Year's Day.

I hate to fly coach, but I'm in a coach kind of income bracket. THE SEATS ARE TOO SMALL!! I have gotten plump, but I carry my fat on the front, not on my hips. I'm no wider than an average man, but THE SEATS ARE TOO SMALL! My brother gave me some good advice. If they have perfume dispensers in the toilet rooms, dump them all down the toilets after take off. Perfume makes me feel like I'm going to vomit. Nice Brother; one of several habitual world travelers in the family. Sometime I'll have to get a copy of my youngest sister's "Flight From Hell" story, on a Korean Airline, on her way home from Hong Kong. It is hilarious the way she tells it.